Big breaks aplenty in week 16 of local snooker league

Macs Builders Merchants snooker league sees eventful series of matches

Week 16 of the Macs Builders Merchants snooker league didn't disappoint in terms of big breaks and a new seasons best within an eventful series of matches.
 
Finch Hill Musicians v Newbys DSC
 
Leaders Newbys faced a tough assignment against an in-form Musicians team and were soon one down after Peter Glover ran out a 70-33 winner over Johnny Myers. A break of 24 from Calum Gardner against Mike Doherty helped him level the tie, score Doherty 56-80 Gardner. John Kennish then blasted the Musicians back ahead with the highest break of the season so far of 70 against Adam Dooley, eclipsing Darryl Hill’s 61 in week 7. Typically, Kennish reckoned it, ‘could or should have been more’. Final score Kennish 98-40 Dooley. The two remaining frames were very close and both went the way of Newbys though, James Hynes 61-67 Zain Abideen and Matthew Dodd 53-61 Ste MacDonald to keep Newbys title bid on track with a 3-2 win.

 
Malew 2 v Malew 1
 
With just local bragging rights at stake here, Malew 2 were looking to avenge their 4-1 loss to Malew 1 in week 4. Mark Quinn, who is having a fine season notched up his eleventh win of the season in the opener taking a close one 56-44 over Jamie Leneghan. Tony Pring then put the ‘home’ team two up winning a low scoring affair 46-18 against Kevin Crellin. Alec Oates confirmed the victory edging out Nick Crouchman 63-53. Tony Cubbon pulled one back for Malew 1 fairly comfortably against James Goodwin 28-62, before David Quayle won another close frame 63-54 and make it 4-1 and full revenge for Malew 2.

 
St Olaves v Finch Hill Young Guns
 
St Olaves had lost their previous five matches and needed a big win against lowly placed Young Guns to put them back in contention. Darrell Thacker started them on their way, finishing the stronger to beat Michael Lowe 86-61. In the next Paul Tangeman for the Young Guns had added to his 35 start with a low teen break before Paul Smyth struck a 32 break and gradually reeled in Tangeman to score a 91-60 win. James Kerr wasn't at his best chasing Brendan Clague's 63 start and the latter, feeding off of Kerr’s errors held on comfortably to win 36-98 for the Young Guns. Sean Corkish fared better chasing a similar start against Chris Nash, Corkish keeping things tight until he forced an error and capitalised with a 38 break. Nash was restricted to just three single reds as Corkish closed out the frame with a few teen breaks, final score 104-66. In the last frame it was the St Olaves man Dave Kelly receiving a 63 start from former world number 75, Darryl Hill. A confident Kelly added an early 18 break to extend his advantage before Hill fought back well with multiple small breaks, getting the scoreline back within 10 points. Eventually though it was Kelly who was left on the colour he needed to make it snookers required and soon after also got the blue and a 4-1 win for St Olaves was secured.

 
Finch Hill Mob v Peel Legion
 
Just two points separated reigning champs the Mob in fifth and Peel in third. Steve Finnegan was up against Kyle Darby in the first. Darby, playing his first game of the season played nicely to run out a comfortable winner, Finnegan 38-75 Darby. Peel’s Don Humphries then put a string of disappointing results behind him with a 38 break against Peter Kirkham to win 46-89. Tom Miller for the Mob then gave a 49 start to John Kelly and the latter was set for victory before missing the, ‘easiest pink you'll ever see’ and Miller duly popped in pink and black to keep the Mob alive in the tie. Peter Crellin then had runs of 34, 22 and 21 to force a decider, impressively overcoming Jim Caley 108-59. Steve Oates and Geoff Hall fought out the last which was all square after the final green went down, Hall eventually holding his nerve the best to win on the pink, 37-52 and a 3-2 win for Peel Legion.

 
DSC Hurricanes v Finch Hill Rockets
 
Second placed Hurricanes were looking for an eleventh win in a row to keep the pressure on Newbys, whilst the Rockets were only a further three points back before play commenced. Jamie Wilson (28) took the first for the Hurricanes 79-62 over Marek Kenny and Stu Littlewood making his season debut added another 43-36 to Matt Radley. Gary Conwell ensured the winning run continued taking another close one 92-77 against the Rocket, Ron Grogan before Chris Dagnall (24) went down 60-67 to John Spellman who stopped the rot. In the final frame Steve Munk seemed to have sealed a 4-1 win for the Hurricanes with a fluked black following an, ’agricultural lash’. But as he went to shake opponent Graham Ashton's hand the white went in. Final score 3-2 to the Hurricanes.
 

DSC Wannabes v Port St Mary Legion
 
A trip to Douglas to play bottom team Wannabes gave PSM an ideal opportunity to grab a belated first away win of the season and keep them in the mix towards the top. The Wannabes hadn't read the script though and albeit with their high handicaps pulled off an unlikely 5-0 win, their biggest for at least four years. This was nice for the Wannabes as they have been on the receiving end of many whitewashes during this time. Their achievement was enhanced as none of the frames were particularly close and that PSM had defeated leaders Newbys convincingly two weeks ago at the Legion. Frame scores were Paul McKinstry 80-42 Phil Joynes, Steve Cowin 70-24 Marc Morley, Fred Corris 75-47 Dave Pickersgill, Stephen Harvey 75-43 Terry Boyle and Dave Corris 71-37 Mike Boyle.
 
With the top three all winning 3-2 again it leaves Newbys DSC ahead of the pack on 50 points, DSC Hurricanes 47 and Peel Legion on 45 in third. These teams are closely followed by St Olaves on 44, Finch Hill Rockets 43 and FH Mob on 42. A couple of big wins from any of these teams could make it very interesting with just six weeks of the season remaining. Zain Abideen with 12 wins retakes the lead in the individual standings followed by Mike Crook, Sean Corkish, John Kelly, Jamie Wilson and Mark Quinn all on 11. John Kennish is looking very good for the breaks league now on 43.5 points followed by Sean Corkish 30.5 and Tom Miller on 15. The pick of week 17’s ties sees leaders Newbys at home to Malew 2 and Peel Legion entertaining the Hurricanes in a third v second encounter.